Online lessons with children via ZOOM.COM

The spring of 2020 will be memorable for the Coronavirus spread and the general lockdown. We have all experienced difficulties with our work - all the teachers had to find a new way of working. Some sent work by mail, some did conference calls, virtual lessons, youtube videos...

I was very reluctant to teaching online to young learners of English as my lessons are very interactive, based on permanent exchange with children. We play games and I make them speak English all the time. When I see them a little down, we get up and danse or move. Being a teacher on a screen of a computer was something I could not imagine. And then my partner pushed me to try. And he was right to do so...

The lessons had to be organised differently. All my board games, my card games were collecting dust but I soon found we could still enjoy songs online - nothing easier than that, but also videos and online games for learning English. I found it really practical to have a whiteboard with colourful markers - I could write, underline, colour - I could actually do more than in a real classroom. Children learned quickly to interact with me, they answered my questions, they sang and repeated what I played for them.

I used videos to practice role-play : children put their voices over a dialogue while respecting the speed of the video.

With another group we sang and mimed Baby Shark form Super Simple Songs. That's an all time favourite!

We even changed the song for the pandemic conditions adding new vocabulary : stay at home, wash your hands and wear a mask :)

Working online with children via ZOOM.COM was a rich experience that proves we must adjust our teaching work to new technologies. Tablets, smartphones and laptops are our every-day objects not only for work but also for interactive education that can be fun and of good quality.